


She's Gone

by Shauntal



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-29
Updated: 2015-08-29
Packaged: 2018-04-17 20:23:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4680137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shauntal/pseuds/Shauntal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kagome was already less than thrilled about moving from the city to the boonies, especially since she was about to begin her final year of high school. But now she's being haunted by the ghost of a girl who looks just like her. Who even IS this girl, and what happened to her?</p>
            </blockquote>





	She's Gone

With her headphones on to block out the sounds of her grandfather’s snoring, her brother Souta’s obnoxiously noisy video game, and her mother’s poor choice of radio stations, Kagome Higurashi re-read the letter handwritten by her best friends Yuka, Ayumi and Eri for what was probably the tenth time.

‘ _Write us back...Hope you like the cookies...Hojo will probably miss you! *wink face*_ ’

Ah, Hojo. The gang had been trying to set her up with him since middle school, but Kagome was never really all that into him. He very much reminded Kagome of a baby sloth – adorable, but incredibly boring. She just couldn’t see herself dating someone with a nice face but no personality. Then again, she’d rather date a baby sloth than hook up with one of the country boys she’d most likely end up going to school with.

She reclined in the backseat of the family van, looking hopelessly through the window at the unfamiliar landscape. There were no skyscrapers, fluorescent lights, or crosswalks filled with pedestrians. Instead there were mountains covered in healthy green foliage and an unremarkable horizon line of tiny houses.

Kagome pulled her headphones off, thinking she heard her name. “Huh?”

“I said please give this place a chance.” Ms. Higurashi said, looking at her daughter through the rearview mirror. “It’s not Tokyo, but I promise it’s not as bad as you think.”

“I didn’t even say anything, Mom.”  Kagome sighed.

“You honestly believe that as long as you’ve been my daughter, I haven’t been able to figure out your thoughts?” She giggled. “Mothers know everything, never forget that.”

As the Higurashi family finally arrived at civilization, Kagome quickly realized that there wasn’t a mall or a Wacdonald’s in sight. Where was she supposed to get her fix of fries after school? Frankly there didn’t seem to be much of anything in the tiny town, aside from narrow roads that could barely fit two cars at once, a few family-owned restaurants, and some quaint little houses and apartment complexes.

“Mom, there’s literally nothing to do around here!” Kagome complained.

“Why do you need stuff to do? You’re about to start college soon, the only thing you need to be interested in is studying for those entrance exams, so you can get into a nice school like Tokyo University.”

“Hm, guess it would’ve made more sense to stay in Tokyo if you wanted me to go there so badly, huh?” Kagome muttered under her breath. Her mother continued on, not hearing a word she said.

“But I suppose you could find some after school activities to get into. Socialization _and_ academics are both important for teenagers! Hopefully your new high school has a cheerleading club like the one you were in at your old school.”

Kagome rolled her eyes, she was almost certain that she quoted that from one of her self-help books for moms who were raising teens for the first time.

“Ah, looks like we finally made it.”

The new Higurashi residence was located right at the base of the mountain. Right outside of their front door was a stone staircase framed by a red _torii_ gate.

“It looks like the movers made it here before we did!” Mrs. Higurashi pulled up and parked the van. “Oh hey, look at that. There must be a shrine or something up there.”

“Can we check it out, Mom?” Souta said, jumping out of his seat.

“Well, I don’t see why not.” She shrugged.

Kagome stayed put in the seat behind her grandfather while Souta and her mother hopped out of the van and headed towards the stone staircase. But when the youngest Higurashi realized his older sister wasn’t following suit, he went back to the van and rapped lightly on the window.

“Kagome, come on, what’re you doing?” Behind him, their mother was waving at her to come out.

“I’m, uh, not all that interested.” Kagome said sliding open the door.

“Come on,” Ms. Higurashi insisted, “We should all pray for a safe housewarming.”

“I’d rather stay here with Grandpa.”

“Nonsense,” Grandpa Higurashi chimed in, picking the perfect opportunity to wake up and throw his granddaughter under the bus. He glared at Kagome through the side mirror. “Go with them, you youngsters need the exercise anyway. And take that contraption off of your head! You kids with your CDs and your video games and your skimpy clothes and your-”

Kagome accepted defeat and hopped out the van and closed the door on her grandfather, knowing that he would just keep rambling until he eventually fell asleep again.

“Doesn’t the air feel cleaner out here?” Mrs. Higurashi said, taking in a deep breath. The stairway was shaded by a canopy of trees, with small rays of sunlight that were filtered through the leaves. Lined up along the steps were flowers of varying species that Kagome had never seen before. It was beautiful, and peaceful, and the mountain air did feel different than what you’d breathe in the city. For a moment she thought she might get used to living in the boonies.

“Whoa, check it out, Kagome! That spider looks like a Pokémon!”

Kagome froze where she stood when she realized that Souta was pointing at a spot right by her shoulder. She slowly turned her head to see a spider as big as her palm staring back at her with a mark on its body that looked like a giant eye. Before her mind had even fully registered what it was, Kagome ran up the rest of the stairs shrieking so loud that she scared off all of the nearby birds.

_‘To hell with pretty flowers and clean air - to hell with the countryside! There’s no way I’m living in a place where the spiders are the size of a small child!’_

She tripped over the last stair, falling dramatically to the ground and scratching up her arms. Just as Mrs. Higurashi had suspected, there was a small shrine at the top of the stairs, along with a house that most likely belonged to its caretaker. Something about it seemed out of place to Kagome, like it belonged in a completely different time period. Sweeping just outside of the shrine was an elderly woman dressed in the typical white haori and red hakama of a shrine maiden, her long, grayed hair tied back into a ponytail. Sensing Kagome’s presence, the old woman turned to face her. That’s when Kagome noticed the eyepatch that covered her right eye.

“Child, was that you making all of that noise?”

As she took a closer look at Kagome, the woman gasped and let the broom she’d been holding fall from her hands onto the ground. With a slow and steady pace she walked towards Kagome, her hand outstretched.  “You...you couldn’t be...”

The tone of the woman’s voice caused Kagome’s heart to ache. She was certain that she’d never met this woman before, so why was she looking at Kagome as if she’d known her for her entire life? “I’m...Kagome?” She was so puzzled that her statement came out as a question. The woman finally reached Kagome and knelt down in front of her, grabbing her face between two wrinkled hands. She wasn’t all too sure of how to handle what was happening, the woman looked as if she might cry at any second. “I’m...so sorry to have disturbed you.”

“ _Kagome_!”

The sound of her mother’s voice startled both Kagome and the old woman. Mrs. Higurashi finally turned up at the top of the stairs, with Souta in tow. She blinked in surprise when she noticed the old woman and bowed deeply at the waist. “I’m Keiko Higurashi. My family and I just moved to this town today. This is my son Souta.” She said patting the head of the small boy standing by her side. “And I see you’ve already met my daughter, Kagome. Please forgive her noisiness. She’s ...not used to being in the elements.” Kagome scowled, folding her hands defensively across her chest.

 “An apology won’t be necessary.” The old woman said, politely returning the bow. “I am Kaede. It’s a pleasure to meet you all.”

As her mother started chatting up Kaede, Kagome noticed a small nearby alcove surrounded by the most beautiful indigo bellflowers she’d ever seen and walked over to it. Nestled inside was a frame that held the school photo of a girl about her age – a memorial of some kind. She had the most stoic, yet hauntingly beautiful expression on her face – the look of a girl who was mature beyond her years. But there was one thing that stood out to Kagome above everything else ...the fact that this girl looked _exactly_ like her.

A strange and sudden chill shook her body; like someone slowly dragged a cold fingertip down the length of her spine. Could this have been why Kaede was so taken aback when she saw her for the first time? What exactly was Kaede’s relation to the girl in the photo, anyway? What even happened to her?

Questions flooded Kagome’s mind, but how could she ask any of them without being too invasive? Surely she couldn’t start interrogating this poor old woman about her personal life when they only met five minutes ago.

Kagome heard her mother’s voice calling her yet again, letting her know that it was time for them to head home.  She joined her mother and her brother and the three of them collectively bowed to Kaede, and let her know that it was nice to make her acquaintance.

As Kagome’s foot landed on the first step, Kaede called out to her. She turned around to see the old woman giving her a stern, but caring look.

“Please, feel free to visit me at any time.”

“Oh, yes, um...of course.” She nodded and quickly ran after her mother and Souta who were leaving her behind.

 

 

Bathing was Kagome’s favorite part of her nighttime routine. She had no problem with soaking in the hot water until her fingers pruned. But that evening after she and her family had finally moved in and settled into their new home – she found herself unable to enjoy her bath in peace. The face of the girl in that photo from earlier wouldn’t leave her mind, nor would the elderly visage of the priestess Kaede.

She lowered her head into the water until only her eyes were left exposed, and started blowing bubbles like a child. Maybe there was no mystery to solve. The girl was probably just a deceased relative and the fact that she looked... _eerily_ similar to her was just a coincidence. But the chill that went down her spine earlier and the heavy feeling in her stomach told her otherwise.

Suddenly, an unseen force pushed Kagome underwater. It felt like someone was straddling her, pinning her down by the shoulders. She panicked and thrashed but she still couldn’t manage to fight against the invisible weight. Her futile screams were muffled by the water that was starting to fill her lungs.

“ _Kagome? Kagome what are you doing in there?_ ”

As if nothing had even happened, Kagome managed to regain control over her body once more. She sat up and took in one long, savored breath of air.

“Kagome?!”

“Mom?!” Kagome leapt out of the tub and wrapped a bright yellow towel around her body before yanking the bathroom door open to see her mother standing and looking perplexed to say the least.

“Mom  listen – something is wrong with this place. We cannot live here we’ve got to move back to Tokyo _now_.”

“Wait, wait, calm down.” Mrs. Higurashi said, placing her hands on her daughter’s bare shoulders. “What’s going on? I heard all this loud splashing; it sounded like you were training for the Olympics in there.”

“This house is haunted! A ghost or a poltergeist or whatever just tried to _drown_ me in the tub!”

Mrs. Higurashi stood silently, taking in what her daughter was telling her. She looked as if she were trying to find the right words to say, but she simply couldn’t think of any.

“You don’t even believe me, do you?” Kagome said shortly.

“Um...listen, Kagome. This relocating thing has been stressful for you, I know. It’s been stressful for all of us. Clearly the stress is a bit much for you to handle right now, so why don’t you get a good night’s rest. In the morning we can get you ready to go back to school and...”

“You really don’t believe me.” She said quietly. “I know it sounds ridiculous but...why would I make this up? And it’s not just _that_ either,” She said, pointing at the bathtub. “Something is seriously up with this town and the people in it and I just...you know what? Never mind, I think I _will_ just go to bed.” Defeated, Kagome brushed past her mother and made her way back to her room, slamming the door behind her.

 

 

_Suffocating darkness, a cramped corridor...it was so quiet that Kagome could hear her bare feet padding on the cold, hard floor as she walked steadily towards the only source of light – a spotlight at the end of the hall that revealed a full-length mirror. When she finally reached the end of the hall, she looked into the mirror and saw exactly what she expected to see – her own reflection staring back at her. She looked over each of her shoulders and realized that she had no escape, since the walls had closed in behind her. When she looked back towards the mirror her reflection had disappeared, and was replaced by another person entirely – the girl from the photo at the shrine; the one who shared Kagome’s gray eyes and long, black hair. The girl in the mirror looked at Kagome with malice in her eyes, while Kagome had no choice but to stare back at the hateful gaze as to avoid looking at the girl’s naked figure. Cracks in the glass spidered out under the girl’s touch as her fingertips lightly touched her side of the mirror. Finally, the mirror shattered completely and she threw herself onto Kagome, straddling her and wrapping her cold hands around her neck. Her gray eyes were bleeding tears, the droplets splashed onto Kagome’s cheeks. She said...no...yelled something at Kagome, but no sound came out._

_You..._

_‘Me?’ Kagome thought, as she tried to read the girl’s lips. ‘What did I do?’_

_Me..._

_‘You...and me?’_

_Not..._

_‘You are not me...?’_

_Those were the voiceless words that the girl from the mirror repeated over and over._

_You are not me._

_You are not me._

 

When Kagome woke up the next morning her body felt incredibly heavy – like she’d been assaulted in her sleep. Technically, she had. She recalled her nightmare and shuddered at how realistic it was. By no means did she believe that the dream had been a coincidence, the same way she didn’t believe that she ‘imagined’ a malevolent entity trying to drown her in the bath the previous night. But what could she even do about it?

The brand new black, leather journal that she bought to document her new life in the country sat neatly by her side, along with the green ink ballpoint pen she used to write in it. But she very clearly remembered putting it back in the night table next to her bed after she finished writing in it before she went to sleep. She gingerly picked up the journal and flipped to the first two pages where she documented the emotional rollercoaster that was the first day of living in her new town. Through the thin, transparent page she could see that there were more words on the other side, words that she didn’t remember writing. Her eyes widened as she flipped the next page to see the same phrase written over again in aggressive, messy handwriting for the next few pages:

‘ _I am Kikyo._ ’

 

 

 

 


End file.
